The mother-in-law's behavior constitutes the crime of intentional homicide and should bear criminal responsibility like the father-in-law.
Article 232 of the Criminal Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) shall be sentenced to death, life imprisonment or fixed-term imprisonment of more than ten years; If the circumstances are relatively minor, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years.
2. In-laws infringe on the daughter-in-law's right to life and health.
3. The criminal acts of in-laws will be investigated for criminal responsibility by the procuratorate. If a daughter-in-law asks her in-laws to bear civil liability for compensation, she has the right to file an incidental civil action as a victim in the criminal proceedings.
Daughter-in-law can't get compensation for mental damage, but she can get medical compensation.
Although the court mainly relies on China's civil law when hearing incidental civil actions in criminal cases, Article 77 of China's Criminal Procedure Law clearly stipulates that "if the victim suffers material losses due to the defendant's criminal behavior, he has the right to file incidental civil actions in the course of criminal proceedings." Pay attention to the material loss.
The Supreme People's Court further emphasized in the 2000 Provisions on the Scope of Accepting Cases in Criminal Incidental Civil Litigation and the 2002 Reply on Whether the People's Court Accepts the Civil Litigation for Compensation for Mental Damage of Victims in Criminal Cases: "The People's Court will not accept the incidental civil litigation brought by the victims for mental damage caused by criminal acts", "the incidental civil litigation brought by the victims of criminal cases who suffered mental damage due to the defendant's criminal acts, or other cases brought by the victims for compensation for mental damage after the criminal case is concluded.
Supplementary answer:
The consequences of criminal acts are not serious (minor injuries), and the defendant is older, which is a discretionary circumstance that the court can consider when sentencing, and will only affect the sentencing results, but will not affect the nature of criminal acts. To put it simply, even if the act of intentional homicide does not cause any harm to the victim, the crime of intentional homicide cannot become the crime of intentional injury.
Whether it is recognized as "if the circumstances are relatively minor, it shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years" as stipulated in Article 232 of the Criminal Law depends on the discretion of the court.